In 1219 Richard Poore, the then Bishop of Sarum decided to establish a new town and cathedral on an estate in his possession (confusingly known as Veteres Sarisberias - Old Salisburys) in the valley, on the banks of the River Avon. The town was laid out in a grid pattern, and work started in 1220, with the cathedral commencing the following year.

The town developed rapidly, and by the 14th century was the foremost town in Wiltshire. The city wall surrounds the Close and was built in the 14th century. There are five gates in the wall; four are original, known as the High Street Gate, St Ann's Gate, the Queen's Gate, and St Nicholas's Gate. A fifth was created in the 19th century to allow access to Bishop Wordsworth's School located inside the Cathedral Close.

A room located above St Ann's Gate is where the composer Handel stayed, and whilst there wrote several works. During the Great Plague of London, Charles II held court in the Close. The novel Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd, published in 1987, is an imaginative retelling of the history of Salisbury.

More about Salisbury here >